Disrupted Peyer’s Patch Microanatomy in COVID-19 Including Germinal Centre Atrophy Independent of Local Virus

10.3389/fimmu.2022.838328

Frontiers in Immunology

Contributing to research themes:

Confirmed SARS-coronavirus-2 infection with gastrointestinal symptoms and changes in microbiota associated with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity have been previously reported, but the disease impact on the architecture and cellularity of ileal Peyer’s patches (PP) remains unknown. Here we analysed post-mortem tissues from throughout the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of patients who died with COVID-19. When virus was detected by PCR in the GI tract, immunohistochemistry identified virus in epithelium and lamina propria macrophages, but not in lymphoid tissues. Immunohistochemistry and imaging mass cytometry (IMC) analysis of ileal PP revealed depletion of germinal centres (GC), disruption of B cell/T cell zonation and decreased potential B and T cell interaction and lower nuclear density in COVID-19 patients. This occurred independent of the local viral levels. The changes in PP demonstrate that the ability to mount an intestinal immune response is compromised in severe COVID-19, which could contribute to observed dysbiosis.

Author list:

Affiliations:

  1. Peter Gorer Department of Immunology, School of Immunology and Microbial Sciences, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
  2. Department of Infectious Diseases, School of Immunology and Microbial Sciences, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
  3. National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Guy’s and St. Thomas Biomedical Research Centre at Guy’s and St. Thomas NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
  4. Department of Histopathology, Guy’s and St. Thomas NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
  5. Centre for Inflammation Research, Queen’s Medical Research Institute, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Authors:

Silvia C. Trevelin1*, Suzanne Pickering2, Katrina Todd3, Cynthia Bishop3, Michael Pitcher1, Jose Garrido Mesa3, Lucia Montorsi1, Filomena Spada3, Nedyalko Petrov3, Anna Green4, Manu Shankar-Hari5, Stuart J.D. Neil2 and Jo Spencer1*